How You Imagined
by HighWay2Expression
Summary: Elizabeth Swann and her friends set out to escape their seemingly perfect but extremely problematic lives. But when a storm seperates them, they'll realize that life isn't always how they imagined.
1. The Beginning

            Elizabeth Swann had everything she could ever hope for. She was loved, cared for, her family life was perfect, and her future was bright. To her, life couldn't be better even if she could have designed it herself. Little did she know, however, that her "perfect" life would soon take an unexpected turn. Join her and her friends on a journey as they learn that life sometimes isn't how you always imagined.

            "Never, not in my wildest dreams, would I ever think that the life I was leading was a lie. But as the truth continues to be revealed, I find that it is a lie I like living."  Elizabeth shut her leather bound journal and ran her fingers over the cover. As she lay in the lower deck of the ship, she looked out of the cage that enclosed her. Her gaze stared past the cold and rusted metal bars but her mind was neither on her prison nor on her present circumstances. It was on the adventures that she had so far, the adventures that   awaited her; the reasons she was here in the first place. She had so many questions, and no one to answer them for her. As she searched her mind for answers of her own, she was interrupted by a familiar voice from the cell across her to the right.

            "Elizabeth?" squeaked the voice. It was her cousin Tom, who accompanied her on the trip along with two others. Their boat had crashed into a coral reef during a storm, and they were separated. 

            "Yes, Tom?" she replied in a slightly aggravated voice. Tom really annoyed her. She never really believed that he was 9 months older than her, most of the time it seemed like he was 9 years younger. He wasn't even supposed to know about the trip in the first place, but now they were locked in the hull of a ship together, which really got on her nerves. Now that's ironic.

            "Do you think that we'll ever get out of here?" he asked, his voice not full of much hope. Elizabeth felt sort of sorry for him. She doubted that he had ever been away from home for more than 2 days; and, even though he annoyed her most of the time, he was her cousin, after all.

            "Yeah Tom, I think we will," she said with a more hopeful tone and a smile. He smiled back at her. Right then, a crew member came through the door. Without expression or emotion, he spoke. "The captain will see you now." 


	2. Stranded

"Great! Just great! How are we ever going to get to the Island now? I can't believe this!" William yelled. He was frustrated. Nothing had gone right since they left Port Royal. Isabelle didn't know what to do. She didn't like to see her friend like this, but what could she do? Their boat sank. They were miles away from home on an island that wasn't on the map. Their food was gone, their friends had been separated, and all they had was the clothes on their back. Not to mention that Mr. Gibbs' stories of cannibals on the hidden islands, such as this one, were playing over and over in the back of their minds. They were wet and tired and wet and had no idea what to do.  So they did the only thing they could do. They sat on the sand and stared out at the ocean.

            Will looked out over the ocean, then quickly looked over his back, just to make sure that no cannibals were waiting behind him to cook him and his friend for dinner, then returned his gaze to the sea. "This isn't the way I imagined it," he said with a sigh as he stared out at the clear blue water. It seemed like it stretched on forever. The only thing surrounding the island was other islands, but it didn't seem like there was much going on there either.

            "Oh really? How did you imagine it?" Isabelle asked. She already knew the gist of it: He and Elizabeth together, in a hopelessly romantic setting, no cares, no problems, no Norrington, blah, blah, blah. She always knew that Will and Elizabeth would be together, one way or another, ever since she had met them. Isabelle remembered it like it was just the day before.

             *_Flashback*  She was 9 years old, and her family had just moved to Port Royal from a group of islands not to far from her new home. Her grandparents were a very influential couple in Spain, and were some of the first to establish a town on an island in the Caribbean, not much different than Port Royal. Her parents met in the new town, and they became like royalty. Isabelle had been brought up in a very elegant home, and when she moved, Elizabeth's family and hers became very good friends. Their parents set up play dates for them and sent them to the same school. Elizabeth was always the pirate princess and Isabelle was the beautiful Spanish princess. Isabelle never quite understood why Elizabeth was so fascinated with Pirate stories and boats, but she enjoyed the adventures Elizabeth lead them on. One day, after they got bored of playing with their new dolls, Elizabeth had a bright idea. She led Isabelle through the streets all the way to the beach where a young boy was sitting on the sand._

            "Come on, I'd like you to meet someone," she said.

        "Are you sure?" Isabelle questioned as Elizabeth took her hand, not sure that the boy would be happy to have another girl around. 

       "Oh, Come on," Elizabeth said. "You'll like him, he's really cool."

"Will, this is Isabelle. Isabelle, this is Will," Elizabeth introduced them. "Isabelle is new here. She's from Port Smith Island, not to far from here."

               "Hi! My name is William Turner, nice to meet you, Isabelle." he said as he held his hand out to shake hers.   "Welcome to Port Royal."

              And the three had been friends ever since. They went on at least a million adventures, and gone to at least a million places. They had special hideouts all over Port Royal, and they were all in different places; behind the silversmith's shop, under the dock, in the woods, almost every place you could think of. And then one day, as the three were playing (well, four if you counted Elizabeth's cousin Tom, who followed them everywhere) it hit Isabelle, Elizabeth & Will had crushes on each other. They always played the king and queen, or the captain and his pirate girlfriend, or the hunter and his huntress, whatever it was, they were always a couple. But when she confronted them about it, they just fell on the ground and started laughing, saying that was ridiculous. But she new the truth, especially after each of them confessed (at different times, of course) and swore her to secrecy. Neither of them knew how the other felt to this day. _*End of Flashback*_

            "Well, I don't know, but not like this. I never thought that we would crash and get separated and be stranded on a desert island," Will finally replied, but almost as if it was to no one in particular. "Well, I did think about it, but I never thought that it would actually happen." He started to get bored just sitting there and got up. He brushed himself off. "But it doesn't matter now, and just sitting here won't do us any good. Let's walk along the beach and see if any of our stuff has washed up." Will reached out his hand and help Isabelle up. Will started to walk as Isabelle stood and brushed herself off. She took another look at the crystal clear ocean. Isabelle sighed. "It could've been really beautiful," she said to herself and then caught up with Will, who was already half way down the beach.


	3. The Captain Will See You Now

            "The Captain will see you now," the crew member said. 

Tom's eyes widened. "Oh! Great! Now he's going to make us walk the plank!" he freaked out. "I thought you said we were going to get out of here!"

            Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "Oh stop whining! He's not going to make us walk the plank! That's ridiculous!" she said, although she didn't completely believe it herself.

            "I bet he is! He's a pirate! Pirates do stuff like this all the time! I read in a book once that there was this guy, and he just looked at the captain wrong and the captain made him walk off the plank! They're blood thirsty animals! They'll kill us and send us down to the bottom of the ocean! I'll never see mom or dad or Uncle John or Aunt Cat or Sammy or Joe ever again! We'll starve to death! Oh, Why me? I never did anything wrong! Sure, I stole that pastry from Mr. Stewart's bakery that one time, but I paid him back! It isn't fair! Why, Why, Why?" Tom rambled in an overly-dramatic voice.

            "I have a question for _you_, Tom... DO YOU EVER SHUT UP?" Elizabeth snapped as they were led into the Captain's quarters. The pirate smiled. _I like this kid. She's got potential. As for him, maybe he should walk the plank…or get me some ear plugs…He thought to himself. He knocked on the door.___

            "Come in," called a voice from inside.

"Go on in," the pirate led them in.

            "You can go back to work now," the captain said, looking at the man. The pirate left, but first he leaned over to the captain.

"Watch out for the red-haired one. He has a problem…"

            "What kind of problem?" the captain whispered back.

"…his mouth."

***********************************

            The captain looked at the two teenagers. "Have a seat," he said to them. Without saying anything, they obeyed. The captain could tell that they were nervous, especially Tom. 

            "There's no need to worry kids, I'm not going to hurt you or make you walk the plank or anything like that." He reassured them. Elizabeth shot Tom a look, as if to say, _"See? I told you! You're such a baby."_

            "No, nothing like that. All I want to do is ask ye a couple of questions. That's all. What are your names, if you don't mind me asking," he said. 

            _"What he means is, tell me your names whether you like it or not, but it's nice of him to be so kind about it," Elizabeth thought to herself. She and Tom looked at each other, not sure whether to tell him or not._

            "We'll never tell you, you evil----" Tom began to say, but Elizabeth didn't feel like hearing him talk, so she interrupted him.

            "My name is Elizabeth…uh…" not wanting to give him her real name, just in case, she decided to give him the first name that came to her mind. "….Elizabeth…Turner! Turner, yes…Elizabeth Turner. And this is Tom…Berkley. Elizabeth Turner and Tom Berkley, those are our names. We're cousins," she lied. 

            "But Elizabeth, those aren't----" Elizabeth shot Tom a look. "Oh yes," he said as he looked at the floor, afraid to make eye contact with the captain. "My name is Tom Berkley and this is my cousin, Elizabeth." Elizabeth shot him another look. _"I already said that, dimwit!"_

            Of course the Captain knew what they were up to, but he decided to play along. He wasn't in a rush; he could just get it out of them later. Besides, this was kind of fun.

            "Thank you, Ms. Turner. Now how did you two kids end up in the middle of the ocean getting rescued by my crew?" the captain asked as he sat back in his chair.

            Elizabeth started to speak but was interrupted by her cousin. "Hey! We aren't kids! We're 15 years old!" Tom yelled. Elizabeth leaned her head in her hand and shook her head. She hated when he decided to act tough. It really got on her nerves, besides the fact that they almost always got into trouble whenever he opened his mouth.

            "I was talking to Ms. Turner, if you don't mind, Mr. Berkley," the captain said.

Tom looked down at the floor again. "Sorry," he said.

            "Go on Ms. Turner," his eyes returned to the girl.

                 "Well… two of my friends and I were out on a boat and it crashed into a reef and you saved us and here we are," She quickly spat out.

            "According to your story, Ms. Turner, there were three of you on your little cruise. Where is the third?" the Captain asked.

            "Four, actually. _He_ wasn't supposed to be there," she pointed to Tom as she gave him a look.

                 "But then where are the other two?" he asked again.

            Elizabeth looked around the room, out the window, down at her hands, then returned to the Captain. "We're….not actually sure," she said.

            "Oh," he replied. He hadn't expected it, but he felt… sort of bad for them. _"Interesting," he thought. _


	4. It's Mine

            Isabelle and Will continued to walk along the shore, looking for anything that would help them in any way.

They hadn't spoken much since their little conversation a half an hour ago, but Will broke the silence. 

            "Remember when you, Elizabeth and I would walk around barefoot on the beaches, playing Pirates and all that stuff?" he laughed. At first he wasn't really looking at Isabelle, but mid sentence his eyes found there way back to Isabelle.

            "Yeah, and Tom would follow us around going 'Can I play? Please? I want to be the King of England. And Isabelle, you can be my _wife_!'" Isabelle mimicked.

            "Ha! Yeah. And remember when we finally let him play?" Will asked.

                   "Of course!" she answered. "How could I forget?"

            "He followed us up to the stone part of the fort and almost fell off!" he remembered.

                   "Yeah! And he was screaming '_Help me! I don't want to die! I'm too young to die! I still have my whole life in front of me! Oh goodness! Elizabeth, goodbye my dear cousin, tell mom and Aunt Cat that I love them! Will, you're a great friend, with me 'till the end! …Which is now. Isabelle, my love, go on with out me *sniff*, you'll find some one else! Just forget about me! I love you all. Good bye!'"_

            "Yes, over-dramatic Tom. And remember, when we looked over the wall, and he was about four feet above ground! So Elizabeth pushed him off the wall! Oh, that was great." Will reminisced, and a smile came over his face. Isabelle knew automatically what he was thinking of. Whenever he thought of Elizabeth, his smile grew wider. It was actually kind of cute, in a best friend sort of way. After laughing together, they just continued to walk, neither person saying anything. But the silence was broken when Isabelle made a discovery.

            "Will! Look! It's my bag! I thought it would be at the bottom of the ocean by now! This is great!" She exclaimed happily. She ran down the beach and it took a moment for Will to catch up with her. "This is so awesome!" she squealed as she opened the bag. All her belongings were still there, soaked of course, but they were all there. Will's eyes scanned the shoreline, making sure that there was not anything washed up from their boat, such as bags, or wood … or friends…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            As he looked out toward the remaining stretch of beach, something caught his eye about 25 feet farther up. 

"Hey, Isabelle is that one of your bags?" he inquired.

            "No," she replied. "I don't think so. I only brought one bag," she searched her mind. "At least, that's what I thought."

            Will scratched his head. "Let's go check it out," he said as he ran in that direction. Isabelle re-closed her bag 

and dragged it behind her as she followed Will.

            When Isabelle finally caught up to him, he was leaning over the sack, which he had already opened. "Will? Wi-ll? Earth to Will! What are you looking at? Hello?" she poked him and prodded him, but he didn't answer. He just kept gazing at whatever was in the sack. Isabelle walked around him, and bent down. "What are you looking a….." her voice trailed off as she peered into the sack. Inside was a collection of gold and silver coins, pearls, jewels and other treasures. After a minute she spoke. "Well, it's definitely not mine," she said, not looking away from the contents of the sack.

             "It's mine," said a voice from behind them.


	5. Why We're Here

_            "But then where are the other two?" he asked again._

_            Elizabeth looked around the room, out the window, down at her hands, then returned to the Captain. "We're….not actually sure," she said._

_            "Oh," he replied. He hadn't expected it, but he felt… sort of bad for them._

            "I'm sorry to hear that," the captain sympathized. "But why were ye _teenagers doing on a boat all alone in the middle of the ocean?" He looked at Tom, wondering if he noticed he had not called them kids this time. _

            "Do you want the whole story or the condensed version?" Elizabeth asked.

               "The whole version," he chose.   

            "Are you sure? It's pretty long," she warned.

               "The whole version will do, we have plenty of time," he said.

            "Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you," she cautioned. "Well, I guess it all started...oh, about 6 months before I was born," she started.

            "_This will be a long story," the Captain thought to himself._

_*Beginning of Flashback*_

"My mother and father had been married for about 8 months, and then they found out that my mother was pregnant. My parents were a much respected couple back in England. My father's father was a governor, his wife was a debutante and my mother's parents were high class high society, so no objected when they fell in love. When my father found out that my mother was pregnant, he decided to go out and find his fortune (_think Wesley- _**Princess Bride). So, a month later, he set out on a ship, and my uncle and mother decided to move to Port Royal, so they packed their bags and came across the ocean and settled there. My mother never really believed that that was what he was really up to, and she knew that he wouldn't be back, at least for a very long time. And she was right; he said goodbye and that was the last they heard from him."**

            "I see," said the captain. "Go on."         

  "So my mother, her sister and my dad's brother came over, and they moved into a big house, and became almost like royalty. Then my Grandfather and Grandmother (on my dad's side) moved to Port Royal. My Grandfather became governor and they were all settled in. No one outside my family knew that my uncle was my uncle; everyone thought that he was my father. So did I. My mother went by my father's name, which was also my Uncle's last name, and so did I, so I guess that's why. I guess he felt responsible to care for us because my father left us. 

            My mother never told me that he wasn't my father, but I don't think I would have cared, on account of I was only three. Anyway, a couple months before I turned four, my father showed up, but it didn't surprise my mom. From then on, I knew my dad as my dad and my uncle as my uncle. We were one big happy family. Whenever we talked about my first four years of life, they just added my dad to the story, like he had always been there."

              "Interesting," was all that the Captain said as he rubbed his chin.

            "My dad would always tell me stories of Pirates and sailors and all that, and I was fascinated by it. Then, after a while, he stopped telling me stories of Pirates and started telling me the traditional fairy tales, like Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast. I wasn't happy about it, but I gave in. So as I grew older, my dad became very well known and respected. He even became friends with _Norrington. Well, not exactly friends. They get together with my uncle and some other men to play poker every other Wednesday. But when Norrington turns his back, my father is always making fun of him. It's quite funny, actually."_

            "Ha! Yeah! Norrington is so stiff. And he's really weird! He even fancies Elizabeth!" Tom added.

   "Tom!" Elizabeth scolded; embarrassed. "You're not supposed to talk about that!" she yelled.

            "Ugh," the captain grunted. "That is quite strange," he said.

 Elizabeth went on. "Anyway, my father tries very hard to do what's in my bet interest; He lets me do whatever I like usually, but sometimes he tries too hard. I guess he feels guilty for being gone as long as he was. I don't blame him for it, but sometimes he really gets on my nerves. He doesn't make decisions for me, but he does occasionally pester me to the point where I give in, just so that I do not have to hear him ask one more time."

            "An example?" the captain requested.

       "Like Commodore Norrington has had his eye on Elizabeth for along time, and he was trying to make… arrangements." Tom said.

            "What kind of arrangements?" the captain inquired. 

        "Like when Elizabeth is old enough, she'll marry him!" Tom blurted out. That just made Elizabeth's face turn extremely red.

            "And he seriously wants me to consider it!" she moaned.

        "That's rough, but it hardly seems like any reason to run away and ne'er return," the Captain responded.

"Well, we were going to come back. We were just going to sail to Port Smith Island, where our friend Isabelle used to live, and stay there for about a month. But then we hit a reef, our boat sunk, you saved us, but our friends were no where to be found," Elizabeth replied.

            "Now there is something that I still do not get. How did a bunch of kids---"

         "Ahem, Teenagers," coughed one of the crew members in the room.

            "Teenagers, thank you, manage to get a boat out of a harbor without being noticed and sail it that far without anyone following?"

            "Skill?" Tom guessed. 


	6. You've Got A Deal

_"What are you looking a….." her voice trailed off as she peered into the sack. Inside was a collection of gold and silver coins, pearls, jewels and other treasures. They shimmered and glistened in the sunlight, like nothing Isabelle had seen before. In a state of awe, she couldn't take her eyes off it. After a minute, she forced her gaze off the bag & spoke. "Well, it's definitely not mine," she said, turning back to the contents of the sack._

_             "It's mine," said a voice from behind them._

            Isabelle looked up at the figure; soon adding a familiar face to the voice. Will kept his eyes on the bag, but made a sort of mumbling sound. 

            "_Will! Will_?" she whispered, before hitting him on the side of the head. "Huh? What…" he mumbled. His voice trailed off as he looked behind himself. There, standing in back of them, was a face that neither of them expected to see: the infamous Jack Sparrow. 

            Both Isabelle and Will shot up as they stared in awe at the man in front of them. Jack looked at them, and raised one eyebrow. 

            "What are your names?" he asked.  "And no lies. I don't have much time." Isabelle nudged Will. They looked at each other as if to say _"What are our names again?"_ Jack was looking at his nails, then he crossed him arms and started tapping his foot. 

            "Well?" he said impatiently. "I'm waiting… What are they then?"

"Our names?" Isabelle and Will looked at each other again. "Yes, our names are…" Isabelle started.

            "…Isabelle and Will," Will finished. 

               "And I'm assuming he's Isabelle and you're Will?" Jack guessed, facing Isabelle. "Am I right?" he joked.

            When neither of them spoke, "Tough crowd," he mumbled. 

            "Actually, I'm Isabelle, and he's Will," she replied.

"Oh, right. Good then. And what might you two be doing with my goods right here?" 

            "We found them, Sir," Will answered.

               "Oh, please. Jack Sparrow's the name. Call me Jack---eh, make that Captain Jack." He stuck out his hand for Will to shake, and Will warily took it.

            "Well, if you don't mind, I'm on a schedule. So I'll just be taking the sack and I'll be on my way," Jack said as he grabbed the sack and turned to leave the two kids standing on the beach…alone.

            "Wait a minute! Hold on!" Will called after him. Jack turned around on one foot. "Do you think that if it isn't too much out of your way, that you could maybe help us off this island?" Will managed to get out.

            "Well, I suppose I could… but what's in it for me?" Jack wanted to know.

                "We'll stay on the ship and help you out!" Isabelle blurted.

            "No offense, but what in the world am I supposed to do with two teenagers, with no ship skills and one who's wearing a dress?"

                 "We'll work for you, doing whatever you want! No matter what it is, and when we find our friends, we'll be out of your life forever," Will promised. Jack stood on the beach pondering the offer. As he was rubbing his chin, a mischievous smile came over his face.

            "Anything?" He asked.

            "Anything," Will agreed. Isabelle just stood beside Will. Jack stuck out his hand. 

            "You've got yourself a deal, mate." he said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  


End file.
